Dr. Massimo Pigliucci
Professor
Departments of Botany and of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
October 2, 2003, 4PM, Thursday
1352 Gilman Hall
"The Evolution of Complex Phenotypes"
Dr. Massimo Pigliucci
Professor
Departments of Botany and of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Phenotypes are inherently complex, and often fuzzily defined, objects of study. In this talk I argue that research on what is often referred to as “phenotypic integration” brings with it special challenges and fascinating opportunities for evolutionary biologists. If one is interested in complex phenotypes and how they change, one is immediately faced with deep questions concerning the ability of evolutionary theory to explain what appear to be coordinated alterations of many individual traits. I will argue that some of these questions even border with fascinating issues in philosophy of science, such as how we should think of selection, constraints, and drift as causal agents of evolutionary change. A new book that I am co-editing with Katherine Preston (Stanford) for Oxford University Press will address these and other facets of this field of research, and this talk is meant as an introduction to some of the issues that most directly concern my research as an empirical biologist as it relates to the subject matter of the book.
Phenotypic Plasticity, Beyond Nature and Nuture. A recent John Hopkins
University Press publication.ent at early development.